Two paintings under analysis , The Nightmare` by Henry Fuseli and `Death of Marat ‘ by David , belong to different genres but have much in common `The Nightmare` appeared in 1781 and `Death of Marat ‘ was written in Fuseli belongs to romantic period and considered one of the best painters of his time while David represents Neoclassicism

Taking into account cultural context , both works represent the historical period marked by radical political changes and new [banner_entry_middle]

philosophical ideas . `Death of Marat ‘ by David reflects great social and political changes took place during French revolution while `The Nightmare ‘ mirrors worldviews and new perception of the reality typical for Romantic artists . In contrast , neoclassicism is based on classical canonic ideals reinterpreted by an artist according to new political and social changes . Not surprisingly , the end of the eighteenth century introduced a cultural scene shot through with fear , recrimination and reprisal . Political battles and social changes had a greater impact on David than on Fuseli

Both David and Fuseli have the same object , the explanation of the attraction of the terrible and the justification of that attraction Both seek to define the terrible , but while Fuseli would have refused to admit the magical or divine as a cause of terror in his mind . In contrast to David , Fuseli is much more concise on the subject of terror Fuseli drew from the imagination which knows no bounds of logic . In contrast to Fuseli ‘s work , David based it work on real events which marked a historical new era . In `The Nightmare , there is no historical context . The Romantic contemplates nature , both the natural world around him and his own inner nature . There are certain aspects of each which he is particularly concerned to explore . In the course of the eighteenth century we can trace a movement of taste away from admiration of ed , cultivated nature towards the worship of wild , untamed human nature (Pelles 1963

`The Nightmare ‘ is among the finest of Fuseli ‘s works , and it possesses an extraordinary atmosphere , where the face is quite unmoved . Into this scene Fuseli has managed to infuse something of the pure clarity of a dream . In contrast , `Death of Marat ‘ shows that art may express what a powerful extraneous interest wants to inculcate , rather than what actually exists , as was the case of the official art program in mid-eighteenth century France . The forms and symbols may belong to different realms , so even the occurrence of marginal features is not a reliable forecast of more widespread changes in the specific area of painting or in the attitudes in the outer world with which they seem to have much in common , for one does not know if or when they will recur In David ‘s painting , there is intense concentration on unimportant : head of Marat , his posture , a piece of , the green rug , and the pen